Short-circuiting attachment for gas-engine igniters.



l o. M. WEEKS L H N. JACKSON.

IGNITEN'RS.v

sHoNT QIRGUITING ATTACHMENT PoR @As ENGINE APPLICATION FILED Dno. 1, 1911. v

Patented Aug. 11", 1914.

lie@- Arron/Hs n NTED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

CLINTON MILES WEKS .AND HARRY NORTON JACKSON, OF BABYLON, NEW KOR i.

specification of `Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 11, 191.4.

Application led December 1, 1911. Serial No. 663,254.`

Our invention relates to means for grounding the igniters by means of which the charges are exploded in the cylinders of i'nulti-cylinder internal combustion engines, for the purpose oit determining whether or not any of the cylinders are failing to work, and which particular cylinder with the igniter therein is defective in operation or entirely out of commission, owing to the fouling or short-circuit-ing of the spark points inside of the combustionchamber, or itrom any other cause.

It iscustomary.when running internal combustion enginesof more than one cylinder to short-circuit or ground all of the jump spark plugs thereof except one, when y the operator has reason to believe that some of his plugs or the cylindersain which they are mounted are out of order. l'f the single plug which is kept in operation continues,

totire the charge in the cylinder to which it belongs, the operator knows that this plug is in proper condition, and that the cylinder containing it needs no further attention. ile then short-circuits this plug lso and removes the short-circuiting device rom one of the other plugs and tests this last plug and cylinder in their turn in the sinne manner. ln this way he will eventually discover which plug and cylinder, it any, are not wkn-king properly, in order to locate the real cause of the trouble.

Prior to our invention various short-circuiting` devices in the form ot switches have been employed Jr'or the above-described purpose, but it is the primary object or our invention to provide a. short-c-ircuiting device by means of which any given spark plug can'be gonnded, which is Simple in construction, which can be cheaply made, and which may be applied to a high tension igniter at an instants notice, without disturl'iing or rearranging in any way the regular connections which lead from the source siii'iplying the igniter with electric energy, and which can be removed at once when the necessity :tor its use is n0 longer present.

force the jaws 10 and 11 together.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specifi 4 cation, in which the samecharacters of reference indicate the same parts in all the views.

Figure l represents in vertical elevation a spark plug of the ordinary type with our improved short-circuiting attachment in place thereon; Fig. 2 represents a perspective View of our improved shortcircniting attachment; and Fig. 3 represents a vertical lsection on the lin'eB- of Fig. 2.

On the drawings the numeral l represents a portion of the cylinder of an internal combustion motor having a threaded opening to receive a bushing 2. of a spark plug ot' the ordinary type having a grounded spark point 3, and a high tension electrode stem et terminating in proximity to the spark point 3, and mounted in aninsulating sleeve This insulating sleeve 5 is held inthe bushing 2 by means of a nut or gland 6, and the sleeve 5 is surmounted by a metallic cap Z in electrical connection withthe stem 4, and has a head 8 to which is secured one end oi? a hightensio-n conductor t). This conductor carries high tension current to bridge the gap between the point 3 and t-he cud of the `stem 4.-, and completes the circuit through the frame of the machine back to the source of supply in the usual way.

The short-circuiting attachment which we have devised comprises a pair ot pivoted jaws l() and ll, having bent-over earsI which are perforated to receive a pivot pin l2, a spring 12 surrounding this pivot pin and engaging the two jaws 10 and 11' above the same in theposition shown in Fig. lJmto ze ends ot the jaws 10 and 11 adjacef* the. pivot pin 12 are providedwvith` diver: handles covered `with insulation i3, handles serving to permit the opposite ends of theY jaws l() and l1 to be forced apart against the power of the spring l2- when the attachment is to be applied to a spark plug which is to be put out of ope 'ation- The jaw 10 is substantially straight, hut the'jaw 11 is bent outward from the jaw 1G, as shown at 14C, and then bent as shown at 15, to be substantially parallel to extend in a direction that makes an acute angle with the jaw 10, and has its inner end lthen heut inward, as shown at 16, the terminal edge ot the portion 1t', haring a notch 1'( formed therein. The jaw is also shorter than the jaw 10, the former being adapted to contact with, the metallic portion ofthe .top of theplug,. and the latter being intended to be in lcontact with the body of the plug comprising the bushing 2 and the gland 6.

.Thelmanner in which vthe short-circuiting attachment lis appliedto a plug will be readily seenupon an inspection of Fig. 1.

The operator presses the handles 13 tosiderable resistance,

the cylinder containing gether, spreading the jaws 10'and l1 apart,v and then. puts them into position to grip the top of t'he' insulating sleeve 5 having the metallic head thereon, between them. In this position the' in-bent portion 16 of the jaw 11 will fit under the lower shoulder of the metallic'vf'cap, the notch 17 receiving a portion of the side of the insulating 'sleeve' 5, and the corner of the outward-bent portion y14 resting upon the. head 8 of the stem 4i. The juw 10 extends downward, contacttheside of the-cap 7 near the upper edge,l'and touching adjacent its lower end upon the gland Send bushing 2`if1ong enough. 'As a result, when the short-circuiting 'attachment isin this position, any' ductor 9. Wil1,'inste ad of jumping over to thesp'azk'point, over 'an' 'air' gap of'oontake the path ofllo'wer resistance through the metallic jaws 10 and 11 to thegland 6, the frameof the machine, back to the source osuppIy. This will prevent the plug from sparking for the time being. f

-lOn a four-cylinder engine for example, three of our short-circuiting: attachments will be used when it is desired to ascertain is working defectively or otherwise out ,of order. -hen three of the plugs are short-circuited, the fourth will y continue working, exploding thecharges in the remaining; cylinder, and the engine will keep running, if the ungrounded plug and it are in good condition.l The operator 'next grounds4 this plug and tests lthel second one, and so on,'un

til he comes to the plug which is fouled or dirty, whereupon the engine will slow down and stop;l and the saine result will fellow if 'the plug is clean but something gis wrong A position; but if the failure with the cylinder. He then knows that this last plugl or the cylinder in which it is mounted needs attention, and he can at once proceed to obviate the trouble and restore normal Working conditions vfor the engine.

If the failure of the cylinder to|` Work be due to the condition of the sparkpoints 3 and 4, the operator can of course wipe the spark points clean and restore the plugs to of the gcylinder to work be due to some other causethan 'the condition of the ignition system, the oper einer will of course have to investigete fi'ur" ther, 1f, when the plug is teiten ont, the

i spark tension connections.'

- which they are kept in the chauieurs toolbox; can be ut` pointsare foundto be clean, this fact will in some other part,.;

the valves, or, rhaps .the lubrication, and

the operator w' lhave to look for the trouble It will be observed from the', above description that -our-'1'in iprovement is simple in construction and can'be readily made. It can .be `applied to any. lordinary form of plug now in use Without having to give the binding post. attachment on the top thereof any especial shape",l and without hav ing to break, disturb or-rearrange the high As stated above they will be sold in sets of three for four-cylinder engines, or in general sets of one -less than the number of cylinders of the engine to to be applied. They can be into use at a moments notice to find which particular plug is defective, and can be removed as soon as the'trouble has been located, without interfering with the short- "circuiting vconnections in any way at all, high tension currentowing over the con# While we have shown'and described our improved short-circuitinp,r attachmentas bc- .mg adaptedto jump spark plug structures,

it is obviousthat We may use it on makeandsbreak igniters, such as magnetic plugs, as Well. x

yWe wish to have it understood that we reserve to ourselves the right to.make such small changes in the shape, size and arrangement of the parts of our improvement as fairly fall Within the scope and spirit of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A short-circuiting attachment for internol combustion engines comprising a. pair, of jews pivoted at spaced distmices from their extremities, saidjaws being formed of sections bentat obtuse angles, the entremities of the j nws forming handles, one of the jaws at the opposite side of the pivot being; continuously rectilinearrand, longer thun the other jaw and the portion'f-of'the other jaw at the same side of the pivot being bent outwardly to provide a. substantially hookshaped portion as and for the lpurpose described.

2. A short-circuitinpattachment of the class described embodying,r nA pair of pvotcd jaws, said jaws having extensions at one side of the pivot and normally spaced apart, grasping portions ci insulating material .mounted on, said extensions, one jaw being straight and longer than the other jaw to yengage and bridge thc/gap between the outer end of the insulated electrode of un igniiiery and the bodyfvthercof and the other jaw being,r bent outwardly to provide a shoulder to engege the outer end of an igniter, andhavmg its remaining' bhgmmiardly nalleso this speeifcatmx in the presence of insulating' Sleeve'0f`t}"igniti= -Eeneath the I y l cap of the lutter, und means x'omfmllyYhQId- HALRY holst UN JALKbON. ing the jaws in Contact and. the grasping Witnesses; f portions separated. 'A JAMin-JAB. 000mm In testimony whereof we have signed our J. S Wow.- 

